AVEC

AVEC CREW

Matias

Matias has been inspiring people to dance Salsa all over Finland! He is well-known of his passion for dancing, fresh energy and the understanding of Cuban music and dances, where he is at his own level.

Tuomas & Reetta

Lessons from Tuomas & Reetta breathe of strong professionalism, experience, and passion for dance. Inspiring and supportive atmosphere ensures an enjoyable learning experience and infuses courage for dancers to let go and be embraced by the music.

Omar & Johanna

Johanna & Omar dance and teach with heart. Their expertise in clear and detailed teaching is really unique, and their versatile exercises in leading & following, musicality and body control will give endless options to develop your dancing. Omar & Johanna teach in English.

Timo & Marjo

Timo & Marjo teach argentine tango with a positive, northern touch and a big heart. They rely on natural body use, musicality, sensitive interaction and understanding of the tango music structure. Their classes are always well designed, rhythmic and fun!

Laura

Laura is a great teacher, performer, choreographer and she also organizes memorable events. This lady will guide you to mood of the 1920-40’s and gives you a dance spark and a groove that you can’t get rid of!

Join our team!

Would you like to teach at Avec or become a member of our Staff? We are constantly looking for awesome peeps to join our team.

If it is you, do not hesistate to contact us and let us know about your enthusiasm!

AVEC LEVELS

We have progressive courses for you to maximise your development as a dancer. However, not everyone learn at the same speed and sometimes you might need to keep on practising on some level for several seasons. We also recommend you to join any lower level courses to improve your foundations and develop faster as a dancer.

If you feel ready to progress, or if you are unsure of your level please don’t hesitate to contact your teachers!

1 - GREEN

Start here, you don’t need any previous experience, we will start from the beginning together! This level takes you through the basics at a rather slow pace with supportive and inspiring atmosphere. This level is suitable for beginners as well for those who want to improve their foundations. At this level you will learn a lot, feel good, and meet new cool people.

2 - BLUE

When you are familiar with the basics of the dance and you are able to dance with different partners so that it feels good, this is the level for you! Here you will learn more moves, deepen your understanding of leading and following, musicality and body movement. The dance style is practiced from various perspectives and it is highly recommended to stay at the blue level for several seasons.

3 - RED

On this level we dive deeper into every aspect of the dance we have learned from the previous levels. You start to recognize your strengths. You will recognize an advanced dancer of the ability to create a mutual dance experience together with a partner that feels good and fits nicely in the music. A red level dancer is also able to make the beginners feel good about their dance.

A - OPEN LEVEL

Special theme. These classes are for everyone, as long as the basics of the dance are familiar! We are not going upwards from the basics, but sideways into new dimensions.

4 - BLACK

The highest level, exclusively for intensive weekends and special events.

You want to challenge yourself as my dancer, technically, interpretatively and mentally. You are ready to work on small technical details as well as your ability and skills to interpetate the music.

AVEC DANCES

So many options! There’s always a dance that you will love, and for most people once you start you keep wanting more and more. Here’s some introductions of the dances Avec offers. If you are a complete beginner you choose if you want to start with only 1 course or multiple. If you are already dancing something here you can choose what your next dance will be! There’s some videos as examples but obviously you can find a lot more on youtube or just go to see some parties! And we’ve included some playlist that you can follow and if you like them feel free to share them 🙂

DANCES

ARGENTINE TANGO

Argentine tango is interpretive, improvised social dance, where dancers are able to create a strong but delicate connection between one another and with the music.

Essentially tango dance is walking with a partner, however dancing appropriately to the emotion and speed of tango is extremely important to dancing tango.

The Argentine tango has evolved in the 20th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, and today it is dancing around the world.

BACHATA

The soft rhythms of Bachata take us under the warm Caribbean sun! For a beginner, Bachata is an easy dance to start with due to its simple rhythms and basic steps.

Bachata combines the smooth and sensual movement together with flowy turns and playful footwork. In bachata it’s common to dance both in open hold and close hold. Bachata is danced in many different styles, and during the past few years it has become more popular than ever. Bachata Sensual is currently the fastest spreading style, and it has brought bigger movements, such as body waves, dips and isolations to the dance floors.

Even though Bachata was born in the small island of Dominican Rebublic, it has spreaded to the dance clubs and dance schools all over the world!

BOOGIE WOOGIE

Boogie woogie is a playful and improvised partner dance that can be danced in various tempo. It is famous for its fast and spectacular footwork and high energy. Sometimes it might look that the dancers’ feet don’t even touch the floor.

Boogie woogie is danced in swing, blues, and rock’n’roll music, and it has been developed in the ’50s while Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis were played on the radio.

It is impossible to dance boogie with a dull face because already the bouncy basic step and the energetic feeling from the music makes you smile!

BUGG

Swinging flow and versatile body movement are in the heart of bugg dancing.

Despite its relatively simple basic step one can create an endless amount of turns, moves and rhythm variations to interpret the music.

Bugg is developed in our neighbour country Sweden and has established its popularity also in Finland both as a social and competitive dance.

CROSS BODY SALSA

Cross Body Salsa is a joyful and energetic dance, which combines smooth partner dancing with soft leads and fun expression of music. Soft flow, exciting changes of directions, smooth turns and versatile body movements combined with the rich rhythms of salsa music are offering endless options for playful music interpretation. Only the sky is the limit when we get to start playing with rhythms, body movements, isolations and funny steps!

When in Cuban Salsa we dance circular, in Cross Body Salsa we dance in our “slot” in a line. Internationally Cross Body Salsa is the most popular style of salsa, which you get to dance everywhere in the world.

CUBAN SALSA

Cuban Salsa is a versatile and easily approachable dance. One of the best things of this dance is definitely the versatility of the expression; it can be danced softly or with explosive energy or anything in between. There is a lot of variety also in Cuban salsa music, which makes the musical interpretation exciting and gives a lot of depth to the dance.

KIZOMBA

Kizomba is a sensual and elegant Angolan partner dance, where a couple dances often in a close hold and moves almost as one. Ginga, the soft and natural body movement, is an essential part of kizomba, and it enables the clear leads of weight transfers. In kizomba there is no specific rhythm pattern that must be followed, which gives a lot of freedom for musical interpretation but it also enhances the importance of good following and leading. When kizomba started spreading fast in Europe and the music started taking nuances for example from RnB and Hip Hop music, new dance styles started developing under the kizomba umbrella, such as urban kiz and kizomba fusion. In urban kiz and fusion styles the hold can be a bit more open, the body movement more accentuated and moves faster and sharper, and rhythmically accelerations and slow transitions are used a lot.

LINDY HOP

Dancing in the 1920s on the streets of Harlem (New York), which made its bigger breakthrough in the “big band” era of the 30s and 40s.

Mother of swing dances, Lindy hop, is a diverse dance that can be danced peacefully by swinging or even get crazy and acrobatic! When the basic step and the first basic patterns get over so you can practically dance with anyone and the steps or patterns are not limited, so there is plenty of room for improvisation.

WEST COAST SWING

West Coast Swing has become popular swing dance, especially amongst the young people. West Coast Swing or shortly WCS can be danced to almost every top hit song from hip hop to lyrical ballads in addition to the good old blues songs.

WCS is danced primarily in a slotted area on the dance floor. It is characterized by an elastic look that results from partner connection. During dancing, both partners can improvise steps and interpret music while dancing together.

West Coast Swing is originally from California, but nowadays can be danced around the world!